Ei 1: Return Foreverwar

"Eerie, Indiana" was my favorite TV show in the world during that sadly brief period, when I was 13 years old, that I had a reason to live every Sunday night at 7:30. When I recently discovered that it had been turned into a young adult book series, I rushed to the store to pick up the first installment. What impressed me is how the writer, Mike Ford, kept the novel in the tradition of the TV show. The characters, right down to every last obscure one, are all intact and the book sticks to the shows whole ominous yet comic tone, with witty pop culture references scattered throughout. One thing that placed "Eerie" high above all other shows aimed at the same audience (or higher, for that matter) was that it never talked down to it's audience just becuase they were kids. The book doesn't either. It assumes that young readers are capable of thought and imagination. Another thing that I love about the show, and that this book picks up on as well, is that, as weird as the situations got, there were usually traces of humanity in the characters actions. Here, the Stewarts use Foreverware as a clinging onto the past and erasing the tragedy that's plagues their lives for years. The citizens of Eerie are weird, but rarely are they weird simply for weirdnesses sake.If I have one minor complaint about this book its that I kind of wish that Ford had come up with a different premise for it instead of simply revisiting the story of the first "Eerie" episode. He does it very well this time but I'm hoping that the later books in the series will go off in their own directions. I intend to find out for myself very soon.

It's a great book except to understand it, you have to see FOREVERWARE, an original EERIE INDIANA show. It's a great book. It was more weird than scary.